Mayor Bob Filner, representatives of the production company Autonomy and members of the nonprofit Balboa Park Celebration Inc. on Tuesday updated plans for the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.

Related

“It’s going to be a big party in 2015, but it’s going to be more than a party,” said Filner at a well-attended meeting at the Old Globe. “It’s going to celebrate who we are.”

The “Edge 2015” brand for the celebration, unveiled last October with much fanfare, was intended to stress the celebration’s theme of innovation. That theme may still be evident in some of the celebration’s eventual programming — and in some of the separate programming planned by the individual institutions — but it’s being downplayed in favor of a broader approach that will focus on seasonal “spectaculars,” park programing and citywide programming.

The “spectaculars” include a water and light show on San Diego Bay, a televised mega-concert at the border and a “1915 gala weekend” in the park and a surprise.

For the park programming, the organizers expect to turn the Plaza de Panama into a Celebration Plaza that could host international festivals and rename the Spreckels Organ Pavilion the Centennial Stage, which would be the site of a series of proposed lectures (the “Centennial Forum”) and other events. A “play” component of the park programming remains undetermined, as does the citywide programming and the budget for the enterprise (estimated as high as $50 million). Filner and Adam Burke of Autonomy (the L.A.-based firm contracted to produce the event), said the entire event was scalable, based on fundraising.

Nikki Clay, co-chair of Balboa Park Celebration Inc., introduced the organization’s new CEO, Julie Dubick (who served as chief-of-staff to former mayor Jerry Sanders). Clay said fundraising, “now that a structure is in place,” would be the organization’s priority.